合縁奇縁
by mayuniverse
Summary: aienkien - (n.) the mysteries of attraction and relationships or bonds between two people / canon retelling. victuuri. contains spoilers up to episode 10. for #30DaysofLiterature day 7 ; wanderlust x veni, vidi, amavi


despite made for day 7 this was finished at day 9. I read this theme + prompt and victuuri was one of the first things that came up in my mind. and I came up with this ramble. and life and ep 10 happened so I just finished it then.

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It was not often that someone saw the reason they ran far towards somewhere, being the one that they first met there. But that was what I experienced eight months ago; you. At least your pictures. Pasted to the walls of the train station of your hometown. Showing how much they were proud to have you as a talent. And as I walked through it, I would ask myself; did you feel that when you first went home from Detroit, or did you see it as a second-hand embarrassment instead? I hadn't tried to seek for the answer from you. Not then, and not now, and maybe not until it became a distant memory.

You told me one day, with your five years taken by a huge city in thought; that Hasetsu seemed to be shrinking into a town of nothing, with no history for it to leave. Not even the ninja castle you took me to when I was a newcomer, or the sea that surrounded us, could count. For a native resident like you, it did not mean a thing other than ornaments of the town, which only happened to be there since before everyone else.

And though I was interested with the stories behind every place I've been to, I would not mind getting none if I could learn everything of you. Of your favorite things that would wonder you whenever you saw them, and of your worries and woes that hindered with you, and of what had driven you to dance with a twist in your hips and another in my heart. Except, at the same time, you were also finding and rediscovering those parts of you, and I was there to lend my hand for the most of them.

You wanted to win. _You did not understand the concept of Eros just yet._ You wanted to eat with me. _You did not like people who invade your feelings._ You wanted me to not try too much to become someone else and just be me. _You never had any kind of relationship like that._ You decided that your program and your theme would be about love.

Half of a year had passed, you honed your skills and started to be more honest and sensible—not that you never been so. Maybe it was just me, who just understood more and more of you, but even the commentators pointed out that you had changed into something new. One way to say that was that you were tasty like your favorite pork cutlet bowl or the Shanghai crab I had been longing to eat since it was on season; but the hunger you caused me to have was no longer comparable to what local cuisines done to me. Even when I already have a share of you, I would still be wanting for more. I came to Beijing for coaching you at the Cup of China and checking out the food—

You said to me that your performance was the proof of my love and my satisfaction. _You doubted that I would feel good, even with my eyes glaring you in greed._ You reminded me not to mind you because I was not the one causing your breakdowns. _You supposed that what I said would be said at any time, and I would want to leave you if you lost._ You wanted me to just stay close to you, and never leave you.

—and I went back with seeing you, nearing perfection and surpassing expectations. A quadruple flip at the free program when you still failed the easier jumps. I was taunted to surprise you even more, having being loved so much, and I told you that was why I threw myself to you as soon as you're finished stealing my trick. You still mess up and hadn't matched the high standard of the program I proposed. But like you deserved the silver, you also deserved rewards like the kiss I planted on your lips.

The next competition was in Moscow; pretty far from my apartment in St. Petersburg but otherwise still a part of my own country. Coming to a streets of a territory I used to own as a skater, I used to hear cheers for me from; but at this time, it would be for a competitor. Everything should be treated with more tact and consideration—the displays of your love and mine, the discussion the press brought for me.

I said for them to anticipate the other work I choreographed instead of answering things about you. _I no longer only think of myself or what was my responsibility._ I set my mind on performing, on being less obnoxious and more subtle but still apparent to you. _I let you string me up on my necktie and the lace of your skates._ I had to come back to Hasetsu but I put trust in you, that you would still do well enough to progress to the finals.

 _I was worried about a lot of things, and one was my sick dog, but another was you._ You, who would face the last qualifying competition without me, but with my old coach who also coached another participant. _But you were concerned about me and wanted me to_ _at least spend time with a pet that had been with me for long._

Last year's skating season had all but passed, us being in the next season and all. Yet when I needed to go back to your home for the emergency one or two weeks ago, the train station did not put down the old posters of you. It let them linger in the lore that it did not had in a long time, even when they were worn and torn. Even when every person here would be excited to see you performing in the finals again this year—something I was sure you're able to do, with how much you had improved since then—they would still hold on to the memory of the first time you passed.

You entering the previous Grand Prix Final, you becoming the pride of the town. Even when you assured me that you did not do that well that time, there was no way that I would impact my own hometown that much; even if I did, it was due to my hard work and achievements. A great city in Russia had had a lot of figure skating legends before. For me it was what I did and what I pulled off and not where do I came from.

We, not you and I as two separate skaters but _us_ as a skater and coach, as a pair, would be there in the finals again. _You did not do as well as when we stuck together, you had a lot in your mind._ You did just good enough to go through, but you still had the time to. _You asked me to stay until you retired._ You did not know you could have me forever; though I did plan to make sure you understood this soon.

Our next stop was Barcelona, a place which was very foreign to you and very appealing you had to travel around it. Though I did not have much in thought about Spain at the moment, except for dancing and bulls, so I took you shopping instead. Showered you with gifts, including a nice new suit, and while it was obvious that you were tired, you still were seeking for something to give to me.

Found it in a jewelry store; shining and golden and round and written in the receipt as wedding rings. You would later took me to a church, and brought me to a corner, and to the sound of a choir caroling, you presented it. You pulled my gloves and made me wore the ring in my right ring finger—when, from what I saw in Japan, it was either in the left or nowhere—and I gave you yours, too.

Your family noticed, and your friend shouted to the whole building that we were married. _You were brushing it off since it would be too fast._ I corrected him and said we had just got engaged instead. _You did not mind anything except the winning the gold medal part._ I did not even try. Like I, or you, ever try to show up to the last year's banquet and made the best move and asked me so bold and burned up the fire in my own heart. I just know.

Like how I know that the next time you, or everyone else, asked about a certain small town in Saga prefecture and what story it saved for everyone, I would say that you are its history.

And I believed that I would fall in love a lot more times. With you, the first and the best protégé I ever had. With you, the next winner of the Figure Skating Grand Prix. With you, the face I would later witness the first every morning and the last every night. With you, Yuuri. You.

* * *

help me I hope I have done him/them justice


End file.
